Warner Bros. Pictures
I have never seen the Broadway musical In the Heights, and pretty much all I know about it is that the music and lyrics were by Lin-Manuel Miranda. And that it was set in a neighborhood of New York City. Being about three hours away from New York City, I have very little knowledge of the various neighborhoods even though I have been to the city … the touristy parts … so I wasn’t sure how I’d connect with the story, especially with its Latin roots.
The story is set in Washington Heights, or rather a very idealized version of the neighborhood seen through the rose-colored glasses of Usnavi de la Vega (Anthony Ramos), the bright star around which the neighborhood seems to revolve. Usnavi is actually relating this story to a group of children on a beach in the Dominican Republic, so it’s all a flashback which perhaps explains even more the romanticized nature of the neighborhood. Usnavi’s parents have both died, leaving him to tend to a neighborhood bodega where he saves every penny he makes to one day buy his father’s old beach bar in the DR, as he calls it. (So we can assume he did that based on where he appears to be while telling the story.) Usnavi (and there is a humorous explanation for his unusual name) has also taken his nephew under his wing, Sonny (Gregory Diaz IV), and hopes to take the boy and his abuela Claudia (Olga Merediz) to the Dominican Republic to live out their (his?) dreams.
Things get complicated as he finds himself falling for Vanessa (Melissa Barrera), a nail salon employee with dreams of getting her own place to become a fashion designer, and his friend Benny (Corey Hawkins) falls for Nina (Leslie Grace), the daughter of Kevin Rosario (Jimmy Smits) for whom Benny also works. Nina was the girl who got out of the neighborhood to go to college but now she’s back, feeling like she’s let everyone down but there is a reason she’s dropped out. And the one thing she doesn’t want is her father selling off more of his business to pay for the tuition she doesn’t want. All of the action of the film begins three days before a blackout, which brings with it its own complications and emotional upheaval (including the revelation of Sonny’s undocumented status), and when the lights come back on Usnavi isn’t sure of his or anyone else’s future as he prepares to board a plane out of the city.
I remember being totally sucked into La La Land after the stunning opening number on the highway, and I was totally sucked into In the Heights as its elaborate opening number unfolded which set the stage and introduced all of the film’s main characters. The song is fantastic and director Jon M. Chu staged it brilliantly. In fact, all of the musical numbers are brilliantly staged from the public swimming pool number to the fantasy dance on the wall of an apartment building by Benny and Nina. The musical numbers are visually splendid, and give the film even more of a fantasy feel without jarringly removing you from the realities of the real life stories unfolding.
The cast is beyond excellent. Anthony Ramos, who began his acting career just ten years ago on stage, including playing Sonny in a 2012 stage version of the show and as John Laurens and Philip Hamilton in Hamilton, got a lot of notice for his role in Lady Gaga’s A Star Is Born, and has shown up in TV commercials lately while awaiting the pandemic-delayed release of the film, is a star. You believe everything he’s going through in the film, and he delivers Miranda’s lyrics with the same intensity Miranda himself is known for. You root for him to get the girl, and when he does something incredibly stupid during the blackout, you still hope he can repair that relationship before he leaves. His smile is infectious and you just can’t help being drawn into his story.
Warner Bros. Pictures
Melissa Barrera and Leslie Grace both give wonderful performances as two very different young women, one trying to make her dream come true and the other trying to find her own way in life and not have to live up to her father’s dreams for her. Both also have very lovely voices. Corey Hawkins is also terrific and his voice just soars. Most of Ramos’ songs are rap, but Hawkins gets to sing and it is a glorious thing. And his character is also very likable. And who knew Jimmy Smits could carry a tune? His role isn’t huge, but his name value will probably draw in some of his fans. It’s also great to see Daphne Rubin-Vega on screen as the sassy nail salon owner Daniela. And a special shout out to Olga Merediz, reprising her Abuela Claudia role from the Broadway production. She literally stops the show with her one big solo number, and if you haven’t gone through a box of Kleenex by the end of it, you need to check your heartbeat. And look, there’s Marc Anthony in a small cameo as Sonny’s father, and Lin-Manuel Miranda as a piragua (shaved ice) man feuding with the Mister Softee ice cream truck to determine who runs this neighborhood (stay through the end credits to find out)!
I absolutely loved all of Miranda’s songs, each with their own special Caribbean beat to reflect the characters who hail from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Cuba. And the choreography by Christopher Scott in those huge numbers that involve the entire neighborhood — and there’s not just one! — are … I don’t have words. Stunning? Stupendous? Vibrant! With so much going on and hundreds of people involved, they are certainly sequences you’ll want to see more than once just to catch everything that’s going on. I don’t even Chu or his editor for the massive work it had to be to shot and edit those numbers, and you wouldn’t think this was the type of movie to require a lot of visual effects, but a lot of those musical numbers do which must have made the process even more difficult. And on top of that, the cinematography easily flows between the non-musical ‘real life’ scenes to the fantastical musical numbers with ease. This is a team of people who certainly deserve a lot of attention come awards season.
So, while I went into the film completely blind, I have instantly fallen in love with it and I will certainly be adding it to my re-watch list and putting the soundtrack in my listening rotation. It’s really that good. Don’t miss it!
In the Heights has a run time of 2 hours 23 minutes and is rated PG-13 for some language and suggestive references.
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